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NAMPA, Idaho — Flying high after their walk-off win Friday night, a confident Crusader crew once again scored a last at-bat victory and move into first place at the same time.

Ryan Johnson's third double of the ballgame chased home Josh Hatfield in the bottom of the sixth inning, capping a late comeback for Northwest Nazarene in a 6-5 victory over visiting Central Washington.

The big swing from Johnson completed a doubleheader sweep for NNU, which cruised in the opener, 9-1, and took 3-of-4 from the Wildcats in a mid-season battle for the Great Northwest Athletic Conference lead at Elmore Vail Field on the NNU campus.

"Considering that we beat a Central Washington club — I tell you what, they swing the dog out of it — we're just doing a good job of winning the important pitches of the game," NNU head baseball coach Rocke Musgraves said.

The Saturday sweep came after NNU got a tying-break, game-winning RBI single in bottom of the seventh inning from Tyler Davis on Friday night which gave the Crusaders a 2-1, walk-off victory.

"With young men this age, confidence is everything and right now I think we're playing with some confidence and we've just got to keep that going," Musgraves said.
 

Confident after the walk-off win Friday night, NNU started Saturday's twinbill strong thanks to pitcher Ross Clevenger (2-1), who struck out the side to start the day, part of his seven Ks in 7 2-3 innings of shutout baseball by the sophomore.

His teammates helped him out, too, turning three double plays behind him to stall Wildcat rallies.

And NNU's helped out Clevenger on offense as a Johnson RBI single put the Crusaders up 1-0 in the third inning, then Brady Baker blasted a two-run homer over the center-field wall on a 3-0 pitch, sparking a four-run, fourth-inning rally.

NNU tacked on another run in the fifth and three more in the sixth, icing a victory led by Baker at the dish as he went 3-for-4 and just missed hitting for the cycle by a double.

Tucker Campbell also added three hits for the Crusaders (16-10 overall, 11-5 GNAC).

Picking up where they left off, Tyler Davis had an RBI single and scored on a wild pitch, putting the Crusaders up 2-0 in the bottom of the first inning of the nightcap.

Johnson then added a two-run double in the bottom of the second, and it looked like NNU might cruise to another lopsided win.

Instead, the Wildcats (13-10, 9-5) rallied for three in the top of the third, then took a 5-4 lead with a two-run Ryan Atkinson homer in the fourth.

That sparked the fight in NNU, which tied the game with a Campbell RBI single in the fifth before Johnson's third double of the game scored Hatfield, who reached on a one-out single to left in the bottom of the sixth inning.

"I really don't know what was going on there, just swinging the bat and putting the barrel on it," Johnson said of his game-winning hit and third double of the game. "It felt good."

Tyler Marsh worked the top of the seventh for his first save of the season, preserving the victory for normal Crusader closer Ryan Nyborg (2-1), who came on in the fourth and earned the win in relief.

The first-place Crusaders now hit the road to start a three-week stretch of GNAC play away from home, returning to Portland, Ore., to face Concordia for the first time this season in doubleheaders next Friday and Saturday.

NNU should have some good memories of the Cavaliers' field, though, as the Crusaders won 3-of-4 there last weekend in a neutral-site series against Western Oregon.